


Perfect Crime

by chaconne_gg



Category: K-pop, Real Person Fiction, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), Sunmi (Korea Musician), Wonder Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cults, Cult AU, F/F, Murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-11-06 18:35:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17944955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaconne_gg/pseuds/chaconne_gg
Summary: In beauty, we find truth. And in truth, there is undeniable beauty. When Seulgi first joined the cult, she wasn't sure just what to believe. However, as she finds herself further entangled in a dark world filled with the promise of salvation, sorcery, and sacrificing pizza delivery boys, she quickly realizes that soon she'll have to start believing in something. Or someone.





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [PEEK-A-BOO](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/460340) by RED VELVET. 



He’s watching his sneakers hit the concrete but barely feels anything at all.

Instead, the only thing he feels is fear. It is indisputable and intense, and for a moment, he can’t recall ever having experienced any other emotion.

But more than anything, he feels their eyes. Cold and probing, from every inch of his body he feels their stare. It is engulfing every part of him in the same way the unmoving night sky now wraps its darkness around any trace of light.

With trembling legs and sweaty palms, he arrives at the payphone. Struggling to insert coins, he puts the receiver to his ear. In his palm, it feels heavier than any weight. The delivery boy dials three numbers and though the phone rings, he can hardly hear it over the sound of his own heartbeat.

“Hello?” His voice catches in his throat. “Hello? You have to… have to help me.”

Fear bubbles up to his eyes and to steady himself, he grips the roof of the payphone.

“There were these f-five, uh, five girls and… and I was just bringing them a pizza,” tears threaten to well up but he swallows them back. “Just a stupid.. piz.. and they… And they…” The wound on his cheek stings, and he winces.

They’re coming.

Turning quickly, his eyes scan the street. He can’t see them anymore, but he knows they’re close. He swears he can feel their breath on his neck.

The delivery boy stutters once more. “T-they’re coming and,” he chokes, “I think… Oh god, I think they’re going to kill me.”

Silence.

“Please, can anyone hear me?” His voice cracks and shatters, his knees threatening to give in. He looks around for something, anything. A weapon, a person, a place to hide.

There is nothing. And nonetheless, they’re coming. He prays for a miracle he knows deep down is a lie.

Without any warning, the pit of his stomach twists into a tortuous knot. He bites the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out.

She’s here.

All around him, he can feel her. The electricity he felt in her presence— the allure that originally enchanted him— quickly distorts into dark sorcery.

She’s somewhere, but in a way that disturbs him to no end, he can’t put his finger on where. He holds his breath.

Because somehow but undeniably, she is everywhere. She is the moon above, and she waits in the shadows below his feet. She is in the air he breathes. She dances in the hum of the neon lights just down the block and he feels her coursing through his blood.

Her voice, which once was like velvet, is now a cruel whisper that tickles his ears.

Behind him, the passenger door slams.

And in his chest, he feels his heart sink. “Please,” he breathes weakly into the phone.

No one hears.

And as if time had forgotten him, he feels himself slipping away, becoming nothing but the busy signal blaring from the receiver and the slow but foreboding approach of high heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first time writing a K-Pop fanfiction, but I hope that it's enjoyable despite any shortcomings! I look forward to the journey of writing this and I will do my best to give you my best! 


	2. SUNNY AFTERNOON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on twitter! @hyoyeons_

“Oh gosh,” Seulgi inhales sharply, taking a step back in surprise. Her eyes, still hazy with sleep, struggle to focus on the figure she’d almost run into in the bathroom doorway.

“Morning, loser.” Joohyun pulls her toothbrush out of her mouth and spits forcefully into the sink. Taken aback by the shock of their encounter and sudden devastating insult, Seulgi hesitates for a moment before greeting her housemate. She almost wants to be mad, but the smile on her lips is almost automatic. She _is_ happy to see her after all.

“Good morning,” she breathes, her voice ending up somewhere between daze and delight. Joohyun gently nods in response before leaning forward to rinse her mouth. Not wanting to get in her way, Seulgi decides to wait in the hallway a few more moments. With her back against the wall, she mindlessly toys with a loose thread on her pajama sleeve. She wonders if she had snagged it on something.

As she waits, she isn’t sure where to look, but her wandering gaze ultimately falls upon the girl at the sink. She can’t help her stare.

Despite living together for as long as she can remember, seeing Joohyun like this is a rare instance. No matter how early she seemed to get up, Joohyun was always somehow already wide awake and camera-ready. Seeing her doing something as mundane as brushing her teeth remind Seulgi she too, is human, despite her elegance often arguing that she was instead something otherworldly.

Because undeniably, beauty had chosen her. Even now, her hair falls in perfect spirals down her back, and it crosses Seulgi’s mind that she truly has never seen the girl look any less than perfect. She peeks at her face through the mirror. From the cupids bow of her lips to the delicate arch of her back, it was as if God had created her first and the universe second. Seulgi is sure of only a few things, but the strength of her faith in Joohyun is rivaled only by idol worship. As a friend and as a leader, Seulgi looks up to her, and the love Joohyun had always shown her made her want to become a better person. Beautiful inside and out.

Before she can look away, Joohyun’s eyes meet hers from within the mirror. She’s not sure how it's possible, but even like this, Joohyun’s eyes pierce right through her. But like forbidden lovers, the meeting of their gaze is impeded by the thin wall of glass. She is enchanted by her eyes, almost all-knowing.

They’re so dark she can’t see herself in them.

Noticing the absent-minded girl’s stare, Joohyun smirks, deciding to tease her again. She reminds her of a kid.

“Am I pretty today?” She mockingly sing-songs, turning around to face the other girl. She grabs the towel draped on her shoulders before aiming it at Seulgi. Tearing her attention away from the mirror, Seulgi sheepishly feigns sudden interest in the pattern of the bathroom wallpaper. Her embarrassment is noticeable to anyone within a fifty-mile radius. Joohyun playfully whips the towel in her direction, and her laugh lights up the room like a sunny afternoon.

Though she feels herself wanting to hear it again, Seulgi pushes past her to open the curtains. Her face feels hot.

 _It’s too early for this_ , she thinks.

After her turn in the bathroom, Seulgi heads downstairs to greet the other girls. Seungwan and Sooyoung sit opposite one another in the living room, their eyes fixed on some unmoving thing visible through the sliding glass door. They murmur to each other indistinctly, and Seulgi smiles in their direction when they turn to the sound of her entry.

“I’m about to boil some water,” she points in the direction of the kitchen, “Does anyone want some tea?” Sooyoung considers for a moment, her lips pursed in concentration, but Seulgi can tell she is still a bit preoccupied with whatever is outside. Eventually, she shakes her head quickly and returning her focus to the outside.

“Sure!” Seungwan beams. Her hair is pulled back in an effortless ponytail, bangs perfectly framing her delicate features. It swings slightly when she turns to look back outside, attempting to resume her small talk with the girl across from her. Though she tries to see, Seulgi isn’t quite sure what they’re looking at.

In the kitchen, Yerim stands motionlessly over a red box of cereal. The sound of Seulgi’s slippers doesn’t seem to faze her. Yerim’s look of intense concentration is trivialized by the oversized t-shirt that dwarfs her. Seulgi places her hands onto the granite island, attempting to quell a grin.

“Breakfast?” Seulgi raises her eyebrows.

Yerim is holding a spoon in a fisted hand like a knife.

“Yes,” she says blankly. Suddenly, she snaps out of her trance-like focus before snatching the cereal box from the counter. “I couldn’t remember what I came in here for.” Giving in to her amusement, Seulgi laughs and walks to the sink. With a careful hand, she fills the kettle with enough water for two, before turning back to Yerim.

“Tea?” She offers, watching the girl pour a bowl of that colorful dinosaur-shaped cereal she loves so much.

“No, thanks. It’s gonna be hot today anyway and I don’t love sweating,” she stabs the spoon into the bowl.

While she doesn’t love the rejection, Seulgi understands her reasoning. With August approaching, she finds herself making tea more out of habit than necessity. It occurs to her that Seungwan probably isn’t thrilled to be drinking something hot but is too afraid of hurting Seulgi’s feelings to decline. Was it a burden? Is she a burden? She makes a mental note to look up a good lemonade recipe later.

Yerim rummages in the fridge, humming a song unfamiliar to Seulgi.

“Isn’t it too much?” Seulgi mumbles, fidgeting once again with the pulled thread.

“What?” Suddenly, Yerim is in front of her, her expression serious. Seulgi puts her hands behind her.

“What? Sorry I…” To her rescue, the kettle shrieks, vapor hurriedly spewing from the spout. She rushes to turn it off. “Forget that, I don’t know what I was trying to say.” A grimace flashes across the younger girl’s face before disappearing entirely.

“Deal,” Yerim says, grabbing her bowl and exiting the kitchen. Seulgi sighs and reaches for cups.

“Here you go,” she says, gently lowering a cup onto the coffee table in front of Seungwan. Steam gently billows from the surface, twisting and grasping for something up above before becoming nothing in the air. Yerim has joined the other two girls in the living room now, their lively conversation interrupted only by the silence in between their breath. Sitting cross-legged in an armchair, Yerim guards her own corner of the room proudly.

“I said I cleaned them all,” Yerim pouts, her mouth full of cereal. Waving the spoon in Sooyoung’s direction, she wields it this time like a sword.

“Thanks, Seul,” Seungwan accepts the glass cup and saucer, their transparency not unlike the sincerity of her voice. An innocent bystander to the bickering of the two youngest, she clasps her hands together uncomfortably. She seems unsure of what to do with herself.

“Well, it definitely doesn’t _look_ like you did,” Sooyoung argues back from her armchair, readying a fist. As angrily as she spits her words, there is slight laughter in her voice. “We only have two days and they’re glass cases. Anyone with eyes can tell that you’ve been touching them with your greasy-”

Before it even touches her lips, Seulgi knows it’s a mistake.

Out of the corner of her vision, she watches as Seungwan attempts to drink the tea, wincing as the scalding liquid feverishly dances across her tongue. Her grip loosens as she cries out and the cup and saucer plummet to the floor. They both shatter upon impact, sending shards of glass and hot liquid exploding outwards like shrapnel across the wood paneling.

Silence falls within the room.

The girls exchange glances for a moment and covering her mouth, Seungwan suppresses a quiet cough.

And before anyone can say anything, their ears are met with the sound of the slow descent of footsteps from the stairs. It feels as if the world freezes over.

It’s Joohyun, and even before she enters, her presence engulfs the room like perfume. Now dressed in a loose black blouse, and walking towards them, it’s especially apparent to Seulgi that her petite stature is a blatant mismatch to her commanding aura. Her lips are pinched together tightly as she surveys the room. She’s looking pointedly at the spill.

There is an expression on her face Seulgi doesn’t know well. Disappointment? Seungwan ducks her head forward, hiding her face with her bangs. She’s pulling down the hem of her dress to hide a splotchy red burn manifesting on one of her legs. Sooyoung’s usual chic demeanor is replaced by timidity. Even Yerim, who had been loudly chewing falls mute.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun is somehow already beside her, searching her face for answers.

“Yes?” It takes all of her strength to sound composed. _This is all my fault._ She wants to apologize or run or hide or all of the above but her body disobeys.

“Would you please take care of this?” She uses a perfectly manicured finger to gesture to the mess of Seungwan’s creation.

“Of course,” Her voice is a little more than a whisper. She avoids looking at Seungwan.

“Thank you,” Joohyun says sweetly, affectionately touching Seulgi’s arm. “And after you’re done, please get rid of that shirt.” Her fingers trail down Seulgi’s arm to grip the loose thread hanging from her sleeve. Something about the way she does it twists Seulgi’s stomach into a convoluted knot. Joohyun tugs slightly, shaking her head as yet another indication of her dismay.

Seulgi nods, but again isn’t sure where to look. Her drifting gaze leads her to finally notice what perhaps the other girls had been staring at not too long ago. Visible through the sliding glass doors, she sees it now clear as day.

Lodged in the ground, with its handle facing the sky, it is unmistakably Irene’s axe. The metal of the axeblade glints unforgivingly in the sun.

“Seungwan, come with me.”

And speckled like stars across the night sky, on the edges of the blade, glisten traces of fresh blood.


	3. LADY'S ROOM

The spotlights shining diligently from within the transparent case put dull twinkles in Seulgi’s eyes. And gently, as if it would it break, she touches the exterior, noting how the coolness of the glass somehow seeps into her fingertips. Seulgi allows her hand to fall away. Like the showcase she calmly looks into, her eyes have become glassy. Because as much as her body is here, the distance she feels from her surroundings is immeasurable.

Her mind is somewhere else.

“I swear,” Sooyoung sprays glass cleaner onto the trophy case in front of Seulgi, startling her. “Yerim? That bitch? Dead on sight.” Anxiously squeezing her hand into a loose fist, Seulgi feels the chill disappear. More focused now, she watches as the blue liquid trickles down. And at the same time, anxieties spill from the confines of her mind.

She can’t stop thinking about Seungwan. As if God was crying for her, shortly after the events of the morning it began to rain. Now standing as if frozen in time, she clutches the faded rag closer to her chest. Painfully, desperately, she wants to be still. But almost mockingly, her heart pounds within her.

Just as quickly as she’d sprayed it, Sooyoung wipes the glass cleaner away, groaning in frustration. “I know she loves looking at The Collection but I don’t get it, that girl cannot sit at a table and eat.” Sooyoung cuts herself off before closing her eyes. “I’m gonna say it,” she takes a deep breath to regain her composure, head shaking ever so slightly. Seulgi shifts her weight to her other leg.

“I don’t care if she gets fat.” Without missing a beat, Sooyoung breathes again, offering the bottle of cleaner. Seulgi blinks hard before accepting. “Do you think she’s trying to sabotage my ascension?” Sooyoung pauses, staring laser beams into her housemate. Was she waiting for Seulgi to answer? Or clean the next trophy case?

“Sorry. I was listening.” Sheepishly, Seulgi tiptoes to the neighboring case. Her body nearly refuses. “Continue.” Seulgi squeezes the glass cleaner’s trigger once before placing the rag onto the glass. As she wipes, she outstretches her arm, passing the bottle back. Without turning, she forces a smile. She watches her teeth in the reflection of the glass.

Sooyoung brings her face closer to her own trophy case, studying a smudge. Without looking, Seulgi guesses it to be Yerim’s fingerprints. “Because... I had a talk with her” Sooyoung continues. “She has to understand, like--and I told her this,” Sooyoung enthusiastically gestures with her bottle of glass cleaner, causing the liquid to slosh noisily. “I was like: Yerim, I know you’re beating yourself up about missing the shot, but there are always chances to move up.”

“Mhm,” Seulgi emotionlessly agrees, robotically moving the rag in a circular motion. She’s right. Joohyun has always been clear about that. Moving up was always special for all of them. As she speaks, Sooyoung wipes away the grease with her fist. The glass squeaks.

“But I think she was just excited for us to move up together, y’know? A double ascension…” She makes a face. “But I told her maybe it’s better this way.” Sooyoung looks at the glass again and satisfied, approaches Seulgi. “At least now we’ll each have our own nights,” she muses and the blue liquid sloshes again. “We won’t have to worry about who’s going to be more beautiful, or anything like that,” she says, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Seulgi finally faces her, raising an eyebrow.

“What? We all know it was going to be me. Have you _seen_ me in that rainbow dress?”

Though she’s not in the mood to laugh, Seulgi can’t help the giggle that escapes from her mouth. Crossing her arms, Sooyoung sighs. And once again, she stares at the older girl in a way that makes her feel obligated to speak.

“We’re proud of you. Of both of you.” Seulgi offers a small smile and as it fades, her eye catches on one of the shirts displayed in the trophy room. Embroidered on the chest is a cartoonish pizza slice, complete with tiny pepperoni and dripping yellow cheese. It’s not unlike some of the other shirts in the room, all with their own variations in design and color. Still, they’re all equally banal, and for lack of a better word, cheesy. But no matter how she feels about them, there’s no denying that The Collection is nearly complete. And what they each represent is far more important to her.

“Joohyun keeps saying that we’ve gotten so much done in such a short time,” she trails off before resuming. “And that we’re one step closer to-”

“Hey, what is up with you today?” With haste in her grip, Sooyoung grabs Seulgi’s shoulder. It should hurt, but it doesn’t. She realizes she’s numb. “You’re not listening to me. You’re barely listening to yourself. What? What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Ugh, god. It’s not nothing, obviously. You always do this. You hold it in, and mope around for days and the girls and I feel _terrible_.” She’s bad at hiding the annoyance in her voice, but nonetheless, in a way that’s almost comforting, Sooyoung’s face softens. “You can tell me. Always.” Seulgi presses her lips together, avoiding her gaze.

“Is it about... Me? Is it about the ceremony?” Sooyoung relaxes her grip on Seulgi’s shoulder.

“No.”

“No?” Sooyoung shifts her weight, putting her now free hand on her hip. “...Then, Yerim?”

“No,” Seulgi echoes again.

Sooyoung’s eyebrows knit and she looks down at her own body hesitantly. “My rainbow dress?” The sorrow in her voice is tangible.

“Sooyoung, stop-”

“If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you,” she whines, “And no secrets, remember? You know you can’t act like this around-”

“I’m just… I think maybe I’m just worried about what happened this morning.” Her head lowers, volume dropping to a near whisper. “I’m worried about Seungwan.”

Sooyoung doesn’t answer. Confused, Seulgi lifts her head and watches as the color drains from the taller girl’s face.

“Don’t.”

In an instant, Sooyoung’s face is completely and disorientingly blank. And though Seulgi searches them frantically, her eyes too are devoid of any discernible emotion. “Don’t worry about her,” Sooyoung deadpans.

“Everything’s my fault. And I can’t stop thinking about-” She wants desperately to hide. Though she tries to cover her face with her hand, she fails when Sooyoung grabs it. Her hands are so cold.

“No. _She_ made a _mistake_ ,” the sudden venom in Sooyoung’s voice frightens Seulgi.

“It was an accident. And now we’re doing an Exclusion? But we didn’t for Yerim... _He_ almost got away. I don’t understand why-”

“No, no.” Sooyoung’s voice becomes a shout, “We took care of that. What Seungwan did was different.”

“How?” She asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

“What do you mean _how_? What’s gotten into you? She should be ashamed of herself. We should all be ashamed of her.”

“But it was so hot and she was just trying to make me happy and.. what if I had warned her...What if-”

“How could she have been so careless?”

“I just don’t think I could forgive myself if-“

“Seulgi, stop talking.”

“If she’s permanently… The burn…” Her voice is weak. “She’s been locked in that room all day and Joohyun has been with her for so long. I’m so scared that-“

“Stop talking!”

“I just think...What if Joohyun couldn’t-”

“Shut up!”

Before her eyes close, the last thing Seulgi sees is Sooyoung pulling the trigger of the glass cleaner. The chill of the liquid as it sprays across her face is enough to cause her heart to leap into her throat, enough to snatch the air from her lungs. In a flash, Sooyoung’s rage evaporates and she claps both of her hands over her own mouth to suppress a gasp. Seulgi rushes to wipe her eyes with her sleeve, simultaneously spitting in panic of having gotten any chemicals in her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” Sooyoung cries, before haphazardly blotting Seulgi’s face with her rag.

Sooyoung pulls the cloth away from Seulgi’s face slowly, their eyes meeting. Peering through wet bangs, she once again recognizes the girl in front of her to be Sooyoung, and though she wants to be mad, she knows she deserved it. And the laugh that escapes from her feels so wrong but feels like such a relief. Sooyoung forcefully laughs once but decides that nothing thus far has warranted laughter.

“Please, go rinse your face, right now. I’m so sorry.” Her expression becomes serious once more and she swears unintelligibly under her breath. “There I go, preaching about carelessness and then I go and do something like that.” There’s something weird about her voice, but Seulgi can’t detect exactly what.

“I’m okay,” Seulgi says finally. “But you’re so lucky none of that stuff went into my eyes or you and Yerim both. Dead on sight. Er...Maybe I should have chosen my words more carefully, but you know what I’m saying.”

Putting down the cleaning supplies, Sooyoung grabs Seulgi’s hands.

“I’ll finish up here. Please, go wash up.”

She has no reason to argue and turns to leave.

“But about Seungwan,” there’s something off about her voice again, and Seulgi can see Sooyoung’s reflection in one of the pizza uniform showcases. For some reason, she looks so small. “The only thing we can do now is pray. Pray that she’ll be forgiven. Pray that she’ll heal. Pray for her purity, and pray for her beauty to return.”

The two of them are quiet for a moment.

“You’re right,” she says.

And not unsurprisingly, hovering above the sink, the warm water she splashes onto her face is much more refreshing than the cruelty of cool glass cleaner. Standing in the upstairs bathroom, time has given her the gift of introspection. She knows Sooyoung well, knows that whenever she’s stressed, she loses her temper more easily. Still, even thinking about the situation, she’s annoyed. She tries to wash it away.

She can’t even deny how good she looks in that stupid rainbow dress.

As she enters the hallway, she peers in the direction of the prayer room. Out of the ordinary, the door is shut. It’s been hours. Her mind wanders, unsure of what could be taking place inside. But she trusts that Joohyun always has their best interest in mind. Though she has never been alone with Joohuyn in the room, this isn’t the first time she’s witnessed a crisis like this. She knows that soon enough, Joohyun will deliver the news of whether or not Seungwan will be forgiven. Seulgi so desperately hopes that this will be the case.

Tiptoeing past the locked door, she enters her bedroom. Seulgi twists the knob and eases her door shut behind her. Looking down, she notices the blue stains on her sleeve and scoffs in frustration. This is the second time today she’d have to change her shirt. As she approaches the closet, rather than the perfectly organized clothes hanging at eye-level, a sweater folded neatly on the top shelf catches her attention. The rain had caused the temperature to drop a bit. She reaches up, hand grabbing it like a mechanical claw.

Seulgi sloppily yanks the sweater, simultaneously creating another mess.

As if it leapt, a box from the top of the closet comes crashing down, causing the papers, photos and pizzeria flyers it contained to flutter down like confetti. Green sweater in hand, she stands still for a moment, in awe of the terrible day that this was proving to be. But after her shock subsides, she begins to pick up the papers. Shifting through them, almost immediately, Seulgi is drawn to a photo she’d forgotten even existed.

It’s a picture of the five of them, smiling effortlessly in front of Joohyun’s old silver convertible. It almost makes her sad. Taken somewhere in the desert, just behind them towers a huge neon sign for a motel called Four Aces. Thinking about it now, it was rather run down, but out in the middle of nowhere, it felt like an oasis.

Touching the photo gently, she smiles at the faces of the girls. Seulgi studies her own face for a moment. Something about her expression is lonely. She doesn’t know why.

Wendy’s second ascension was around that time, and she’d spent so many hours in the bathroom with ridiculous curlers in her hair in order to get ready for the ceremony. But Irene had gotten so impatient waiting for her she ended up in the pool with Yerim. Seulgi had thrown up from eating so much ice cream, and Yerim, who was so young then wouldn’t stop laughing at her for it. And in the evening, when it was cool enough to go outside, they laughed, running across the sunsets and dancing beneath the stars. They pushed Yerim in a shopping cart. They sang to the mountains. They ate ice cream cake. And on the days where the air conditioners just weren’t good enough, the convertible was their champion. Joohyun drove, and Sooyoung wouldn’t stop looking at herself in the car’s side mirrors. Even now, Seulgi remembers the feeling of the wind as it tangled through her hair, the sand that stung her skin, and the unshakable happiness that nearly felt forbidden.

Nothing then was perfect. But it might as well have been.

It was beautiful.

She touches the photo again as if doing so could bring her back to that time.

Nothing happens.

Instead of returning it to the box, she hurriedly places it under her pillow.


End file.
